Arriving in Las Vegas as a virtual unknown, and as The Venetian headline attraction, hardly seems to faze French Canadian impressionist Andre'-Philippe Gagnon.
After all, he's performed in packed European soccer stadiums under pressure-cooker conditions that might fell the faint of heart. "When I was opening for Celine (Dion)," Gagnon recalls, "I was petrified because at a couple of shows in Amsterdam and Paris, the (waiting) audience would hear an announcement: `Because of his close friendship with Celine, he insisted on being with us tonight. Here he is ... Mick Jagger!'
"I sang the first phrase offstage," Gagnon says, unable to hide a smile. "Then, when I would come on, they would realize I wasn't him and you could hear the sound of all those people's hopes being deflated. It was, `You're not Mick, you're not Celine. Who are you? Do something!' "
Gagnon, a lithe, rubbery-face impressionist, still opens with his Jagger tribute -- a bantamlike strutting take on the Stones' "Start Me Up" anchored by his quartet of live musicians -- in his just-opened show at The Venetian's elaborate C2K show space.
By design, he avoids all-too-familiar impressions of the likes of George Burns, Jack Nicholson and John Wayne and covers a slew of rock artists amid more common takes on Rat Pack members and Bing Crosby. Sure, there's the predictable Michael Jackson sendup, but there's also his quick-chorus impressions of more esoteric acts such as Australia's Midnight Oil and Athens' (Georgia, not Greece) R.E.M. -- the latter tribute transforming "Losing My Religion" into an musical jingle promoting Viagra.
"That was the idea ... to be different," says the affable Gagnon, a native of Quebec, Canada, whose 1985 performance at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal launched a journey that has taken him around the world. "At the show in Montreal, I had to follow Jay Leno when he was at his peak and just starting to be a regular guest host on `The Tonight Show.' I did my David Lee Roth, Joe Cocker and a version of `We Are the World,' which had just been released. (Leno) said I should send a cassette to the show and, two months later, we were on the show with Johnny Carson and we even got invited to sit on the couch" -- a rarity for first-time acts and a benediction for artists who pleased Carson.
Gagnon, who tells the above story in Carson's voice, then began working in Los Angeles comedy outlets and showed up on the Strip at the now-demolished Dunes as part of Mitzi Shore's comedy lineups of young talent. Now 38 years old and the father of two preschoolers, Gagnon admits that his initial visits to Vegas had him thinking that, perhaps one day, he might see his name on a Strip marquee as a headliner.
"I thought, maybe we can adapt to Las Vegas someday and I won't have to share the stage with three or four comics," he says. "I knew I had enough material to an entire show in English." Away from the States, Gagnon would deliver his patter and jokes in French before singing impressions of both American and French recording stars.
His impressions of French recording stars are missing in his shows at The Venetian. Ditto for Canadian singer/songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot. And so are a host of famous hockey players unlikely to draw many laughs among non-Canadian visitors to a desert entertainment mecca.
Besides, it's American superstars who are instantly recognized around the world. A whining Willie Nelson and bellowing Julio Iglesias. The immortal Temptations. A gritty Lou Rawls and a deeply soulful Barry White -- no easy task for a speaker of French.
"I'm influenced by both French and American cultures, and the French (influence) was strong until the 1960s when American culture took over the world," he says. "It has actually made the job easier for me because people are crazy about American stars. There have been times when I've looked out a (European) crowds and seen 80,000 people following my choreography for the Motown segment of the show."
A Gambler's Anonymous segment and a "Bottom Five" of the worst songs ever recorded are fixed elements in his Venetian shows where Gagnon bounces from impression to impression at a rapid pace. "I like numbers where you have many voices and do them back-to-back," he notes. "You don't want to lose them."
New voices are destined to join his act, he adds, saying he's working on singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, which he won't unveil "until I get the texture just right." Gagnon's version of a Nat and Natalie Cole duet, which is already featured in singing-impressionist Danny Gans' act, may be added if the mood is right.
"The most important thing for me is to keep a sense of rhythm. ... I insist on that," says Gagnon, who appears at 7 nightly except Mondays in C2K before the room transforms into a nightclub at 11 p.m.
"It's a big relief to get the first show over because we went through so many technical rehearsals," says Gagnon. "It's a new and unusual room and we had to adjust a little bit. There are so many lighting cues and it's not like the days when you just said, `Put a spotlight on him and follow him.'
"I really like the atmosphere though and the audience feels very close, even in the last few rows of the balcony. It's almost like playing in a cinema."
Andre'-Philippe Gagnon
7 p.m. daily except Mondays
C2K, The Venetian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Tickets: $45-$75
= From LVRJ 11/06/99
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